Resolute Forest Products and National Envelope Announce Partnership to Expand Availability of Align™ Papers

MONTREAL, April 20, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Resolute Forest Products (NYSE: ABH) (TSX: ABH) and National Envelope today announced a unique partnership that will provide customers with an expanded portfolio of solutions, including folio-size sheets using Resolute's innovative, high-yield, sustainable paper. This alliance is an integral part of both companies' continued emphasis on providing customers with industry-leading eco-friendly solutions.

Resolute recently launched Align™, its family of high-opacity, high-bulk, environmentally responsible papers that can be used as alternatives to chemical pulp coated and uncoated freesheet in most commercial printing applications. When compared to traditional offset papers, Align grades deliver a smaller environmental footprint and greater cost savings to customers.

When comparing the overall product life cycle, Align grades have less impact on the environment than traditional freesheet papers, including a carbon footprint that is from 35% to 85% smaller than that of the average freesheet grade. Furthermore, thanks to its higher bulk and opacity at a lower basis weight, customers receive all the printability they expect, but at a lower cost. Based on their needs, Align customers can either pay less for paper, pay less for postage, or print and mail more at the same cost.

"Through this partnership with National Envelope, even more end-users - including those supplied by sheet-fed printers - can benefit from the environmental and economic savings that the Align paper line brings," stated Richard Garneau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Resolute Forest Products. "This effort fits with Resolute's goal of helping more customers reduce their own environmental footprint."

"As National Envelope continues to evolve, this is a strategic milestone toward transforming into a more diversified sustainability-oriented supplier," said Ken Winterhalter, Chief Executive Officer of National Envelope. "This partnership will enable more customers to have access to environmental solutions without having to pay a premium."

To learn more about Resolute's Align papers or to order samples, please visit www.alignpaper.com.

About Resolute Forest Products

Resolute Forest Products is a global leader in the forest products industry with a diverse range of products, including newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products. The Company owns or operates 18 pulp and paper mills and 23 wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea. Marketing its products in more than 90 countries, Resolute has third-party certified 100% of its managed woodlands to sustainable forest management standards. The shares of Resolute Forest Products, formerly doing business as AbitibiBowater, trade under the stock symbol ABH on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. For more information visit www.resolutefp.com.

Resolute and other member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada, as well as a number of environmental organizations, are partners in the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The group works to identify solutions to conservation issues that meet the goal of balancing equally the three pillars of sustainability linked to human activities:  environmental, social and economic. Resolute is also a member of the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program, in which businesses establish ambitious targets to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work aggressively toward achieving them.

About National Envelope

National Envelope, a portfolio company of The Gores Group, is one of the largest manufacturers of envelopes in the world, with 9 manufacturing facilities, 2 distribution centers, and over 2,400 employees in the United States. The company is an environmental leader in the paper and envelope converting industries with certifications from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Rainforest Alliance, Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), and Green Seal. The organization is also an EPA Green Power Partner. For more information about National Envelope, please visit www.nationalenvelope.com. 

Resolute Forest Products Contacts

Investors
Rémi G. Lalonde
Vice President, Investor Relations
514 394-2345
[email protected] 

Media and Others
Seth Kursman
Vice President, Corporate
Communications, Sustainability
and Government Affairs
514 394-2398
[email protected] 

Product Inquiries
Laura Ashley
Manager, Marketing
803 817-4670
[email protected]

National Envelope Contact

Marketing and Communications
Kim Lehere
Marketing Manager
972 731-4183
[email protected]